In The Electric Mist

The real mystery surrounding this adaptation of James Lee Burke’s bestselling crime novel In the Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead is why a perfectly respectable Hollywood movie boasting such an impressive cast and crew should be released straight-to-DVD? It stars Tommy Lee Jones as veteran Louisiana detective and recovering alcoholic Dave Robicheaux, also features Mary Steenburgen, Peter Sarsgaard, John Goodman, Kelly Macdonald, Ned Beatty and blues legend Buddy Guy, and is directed by French auteur Bertrand Tavernier from a script by Jerzy Kromolowski, who penned The Pledge for Sean Penn.

OK, it’s no masterpiece – Kromolowski’s script and Tavernier’s direction are somewhat pedestrian, and perhaps the source material is a little too genre conventional – but the cast is solid and the plot involving enough. That latter sees Robicheaux’s investigation of the serial killing of young prostitutes and the unearthing of an ancient race hatred-fuelled murder, both of which crimes are inevitably linked. Extras include ‘behind the scenes’ documentary Journey Through the Mist.